What Is a Tennis Racket Grip Made Of?

Video Transcript

"Hi my name is Lincoln Ward. I'm the director of the Austin Tennis Center here in Austin, Texas. Today we're going to talk about what your tennis grip is made out of. The basic tennis grip starts in a roll and you unwind it to put on the racket. The grip, there is two different types of grips, replacement grips and over grips. Your over grip is just a thin piece of rubber either texturized or not that goes over your existing grip to give it a little more tackiness or sweat absorption. There is a wide variety of those out there as you can see, they stretch from perforated grips to a little more chalkier grips just depending on what you're looking for but they're all pretty much just a rubber covering either texturized or not. The replacement grips are a little bit more to them than that. They're a little more expensive. They're designed to completely replace your existing grip just as they're called, replacement grips. They start off with the same rubbery surface followed by a cushiony later which is sometimes made out of different cotton fibers and then a tape on the bottom of it. There is a varying range of replacement grips as you can see from these pictures. This one has perforations and it is a cushion and absorption. There are some that are designed for secure hand position, the same thing as the rubber surface, extremely texturized with a cushiony insole followed by tape at the base. They're all pretty much made the same way with varying differences to the rubberization to create specific goals in that grip. My name is Lincoln Ward and that's what your tennis grip is made out of."